Hooligan probe unveils more lapses
Police had two encounters with motorcycle convoy after fatal brawl, but around 50 got away
The ongoing investigation to identify the killer of 29-year-old Michalis Katsouris during clashes on August 7 between rival fans on the eve of the Champions League qualifier between AEK Athens and Dinamo Zagreb has revealed that police officers apparently encountered a group of hooligans on motorcycles twice after the fatal incident but allowed most of them to get away.
According to their statements, officers of the Subdirectorate of Law Enforcement Measures (YMET) said they encountered the hooligan motorcade twice some 40 minutes after the Katsouris murder in Nea Filadelfia and outside the stadium of Rizoupoli in western Athens. The police arrested five Croats but a total of 50 others managed to drive away.
In their statements, the YMET officers said that they could not identify the motorcyclists. However, as there were also several young Croats among them, it is suspected that the motorbikes were being ridden by Panathinaikos fans who accompanied or even invited the Dinamo Zagreb hooligans to Nea Filadelfia. The two teams are twinned.
The Greek police has come under fire failing to heed advance warnings about the arrival of the Croatian hooligans and doing nothing to prevent the deadly clashes that took place on the night of August 7.
Meanwhile on Monday, officers of the Anti-Sport Violence Sub-Division (ASD) were due to collect video footage from the security cameras at the supermarket where the motorcycle procession was originally parked, in an attempt to collect evidence on the identity of the people on the motorcycles. It is also suspected that they played a key role in the dramatic events that led to the murder of Katsouris.
The case file includes a statement from a policeman who was outside the AEK stadium before the clashes broke out. He said that at 10.40 p.m. the number of AEK fans gathered around the perimeter of the stadium was around 400 and that 15 minutes later some 150 Panathinaikos and Dinamo Zagreb fans arrived.
“They came to blows, both physically and by throwing objects at each other,” he testified.
In a statement to Kathimerini, defense lawyer Alexis Kougias argued that it is highly likely the person who killed Katsouris will go unpunished, and “that he is not among those arrested.” The investigators, he said, “have no evidence in their hands as to who took Michalis’ life.”
